Unit History: Welsh Guards

The Regiment was the last of the five Foot Guards Regiments to be formed, only coming into existence in 1915 by Royal Warrant of King George V and order of Earl Kitchener the Secretary of State for War. Within a few months of its creation the new unit was not only on mounted guard duty at Buckingham Palace but also sailed for France to engage in the actions of the Great War.

During the Second World War The Regiment was expanded to three Battalions with both the 1st and the 2nd Battalions in action in North West Europe while the 3rd Battalion fought in the Tunisian and Italian Campaigns of the war.
After the war, the 3rd Battalion was disbanded and the 2nd Battalion was placed in suspended animation. The 1st Battalion went on to served in Northern Ireland, Palestine, Egypt, Germany, Aden, Cyprus and Belize, and was famously part of the task force that fought in the Falklands campaign in 1982.

More recently it has been deployed on two tours of Bosnia and tours of Northern Ireland, Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
It is easy to distinguish between the Regiments of Foot Guards as the buttons on the tunics are spaced to reflect their order of seniority. The Welsh Guards have buttons arranged in groups of five.

Welsh Guards during WW2

The regiment was increased to 3 Battalions during the World War 2. The 1st Battalion fought in all the campaigns of the North-West European Theatre. The 2nd Battalion fought in Boulogne in 1940 whilst the 1st fought in Belgium as part of the British Expeditionary Force. In May 1940 at the Battle of Arras, the Welsh Guards gained their second Victoria Cross by Lieutenant The Hon. Christopher Furness who was killed in the action. The Welsh Guards were subsequently part of the legendary Evacuation of Dunkirk that saw over 340,000 British and French troops return to the UK against all odds.

The 3rd Battalion Welsh Guards was formed at Beavers Camp, Hounslow on 24 October 1941. In 1943 the 3rd Battalion fought throughout the arduous Tunisian North African Campaign and Italian Campaigns.

While they battled on in those theatres the 1st and 2nd joined the Guards Armoured Division, with the 1st Battalion being infantry and the 2nd armoured. The two battalions worked closely, being the first troops to re-enter Brussels on 3 September 1944 after an advance of 100 miles in one day in what was described as 'an armoured lash unequalled for speed in this or any other war'.

Welsh Guards during WW1

The Regiment was awarded 20 Battle Honours and 1 Victoria Crosses, losing 860 men during the course of the war.

1st Battalion26.02.1915 Formed by Royal Warrant at White City.28.04.1915 Moved to Sandown Park.04.06.1915 Moved to Wellington Barracks.18.08.1915 Mobilised for war and landed at Havre joining the 3rd (Guards) Brigade of the Guards Division and engaged in various actions on the Western front including;1915The Battle of Loos1916The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, The Battle of Morval,1917The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, The Battle of Pilkem, The Battle of the Menin Road, The Battle of Poelkapelle, The First Battle of Passchendaele, The Battle of Cambrai 1917.1918The Battle of St Quentin, The Battle of Bapaume, The First Battle of Arras 1918, The battles marked, The Battle of Albert, The Second Battle of Bapaume, The Battle of Havrincourt, The Battle of the Canal du Nord, The Battle of Cambrai 1918, The pursuit to the Selle, The Battle of the Selle, The Battle of the Sambre.11.11.1918 Ended the War in Maubeuge, France.

2nd (Reserve) BattalionAug 1915 Formed at Wellington Barracks.Sept & Oct 1915 Moved to Marlow and then to the Tower of London.12.06.1916 Moved to Tadworth24.10.1916 Moved to Orpington15.05.1917 Moved back to Tadworth05.09.1917 Moved to Ranelagh Club, Barnes and remained there until the end of the war.

Memories of Welsh Guards

(Memories written by members of Forces Reunited)

Welsh Guards (76-79) in 1976

Written by ALEC A'HERN

I was a new recruit in the Guards Deopt in Pirbright (Jan 1976) I went through all my basic training. only to find that when it came for my passing out parade, we had to postpone it becuase we were on fire duty.
Fighting fires in the heat of the 1976 heatwave.
we did passout two weeks later.then I did a very enjoyable 2 year stint in Berlin.
Anybody from the old regiment remember me, if so please get in touch

, Welsh Guards, in 1981

Written by Chris Stannard

We started in Nanyuki , Kenya, that was a bit miserable with it raining at 12:00 each day, peoples suitcases were floating out of the tents. It all picked up when we travelled south to Tsavo.
I was at Tsavo West for 10 days, with some great guys from the Welsh Guards. We went swimming at Kilaguni Lodge and one of the local hotel pools where, let?s say we made hand grenades out of local frogs. I went flying with Bill and Bongo Woodley over to Tsavo East and he desided it would be fun to buzz the local river, I did point out I could see crocodiles down there. I remember Shady (from the MT Pool, he was the Store man) but others are lost in memory. I remember the Jock Cook feeding a baboon with compo sweets, which was a bit hairy, the baboon was too, he just said ?I am alright but running out of sweets?. We threw potatoes till the baboon was far enough away to escape, they got their own back though throwing poo all round our showers.One night we had to go escort the FRG Truck and some lads in to fix a head gasket. After a flat tyre and me driving, yep my job to fix it. Just finnished putting the tyre back on the bonnet and tightening the straps, jumped in turned on the light and there’s a male lion not 30 yar5ds in front the landrover. Good story for the grandchildren, how I wa presenting my arse to a hungry beast in the dark....